Download PDFCovid-19 has been difficult for everyone. A lot of businesses went down and a lot of entertainment areas were restricted because of the lockdown. This really made a lot of families not to go out to places like water parks, theme parks or even the beach.
The people from Bethal, Mpumalanga, have expressed their views about this festive season, over December 2022. There were a number of responses from the people interviewed.
“My family and I usually go out during the festive season and go to the beach fortunately we had a chance to do so as Covid-19 has ended we are glad to be out in the open after a long time since the lockdown” said Lukhanyo.
“I lost my job this year, so the festive season was kind of boring to me as I am one person who loved to turn up and party, during the season not having money to do that I wished that I had a job,” said Slindile (not the original name).
“Most of the families in my street have gone to Durban so the to togetherness this season was not a lot as we enjoy to spend time with our neighbours and friends,” said Anonymous.
“As if the Covid-19 was bad enough, we had to enter the new year in loadshedding even so we managed to take our fireworks and enjoyed ourselves,” said Faith.
Many people were drinking in their households and only a few people were out in the taverns, even though the residents believe that there is no Covid-19 they actually spent the new year in their indoors in their homes. This festive season was different from the previous ones as many people said, due to Covid-19 a lot of people were left discouraged to have fun like they used to before the pandemic started. Many of the people said that they lost their jobs just before the festive season because the companies they worked for closed down owing to a lack of funds to keep them going.
The residents of Bethal are hopeful that job opportunities will come and that their applications to various mine companies will be accepted.
This article is an opinion piece submitted on 05 January 2023. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Karibu! Online or Khanya College. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
